Dr. Candice McQueen on Lipscomb University
This week, we sit down with Dr. Candice McQueen, President of Lipscomb University, to explore the evolving role of higher education in Tennessee. We discuss how Lipscomb is balancing academic rigor with a Christ-centered mission, the importance of preparing students for both career and purpose, and how universities can stay grounded in their identity during times of cultural and institutional change. Dr. McQueen also shares insights on leadership, student development, and the connection between education, community, and workforce needs.
About Dr. Candice McQueen
Dr. Candice McQueen serves as President of Lipscomb University, leading one of Nashville’s most influential institutions at the intersection of faith, education, and community impact.
With a background as Tennessee’s former Commissioner of Education and a career rooted in public service, she brings a clear, mission-driven approach to leadership—focused on preparing students for lives of purpose, not just careers.
Shaping the Future of Higher Education in Nashville
As higher education continues to evolve, the question isn’t just what students learn—it’s how that learning connects to purpose, identity, and real-world impact.
Institutions like Lipscomb University are actively redefining that answer.
In a time marked by rapid growth, cultural shifts, and increasing skepticism toward traditional education, Lipscomb is working to bridge the gap between academic rigor, faith formation, and workforce readiness. Through initiatives like vocational discovery and community engagement, the university is equipping students to navigate complexity with both competence and conviction.
Resources
Lipscomb University
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Spencer Patton: [00:00:00] Welcome to Signature Required. It is intended for Tennesseans by Tennessean,
Dr. Candace McQueen 18th, president of Lipscomb University. Welcome to Signature Required.
Candice McQueen: Thank you.
Spencer Patton: We are really thrilled and honored to have you here. A lot of people that are listening or watching know Lipscomb. But not everybody. Um, I, being born and raised here, have spent my fair share of time on lips, Kim's tennis courts inside of Lipscomb Halls.
I've had about 50 different reasons for why I've been on campus, but I wanna start just at the basics for those that have never heard of Lipscomb and kind of think it's a funny name. Where is and what is Lipscomb?
Candice McQueen: Well, Lipscomb University started in 1891, a vision from a man named David Lipscomb, and a friend of his, [00:01:00] James Harding.
Uh, the two individuals had a vision for an exceptional. Faith-based Christian institution that would train normal people in normal jobs to carry their faith into the workplace. So a lot of people think, well, you train preachers. Well, of course we do that in the College of Bible Ministry, but the university was always started to be, have teachers and you know, people who wanted to go into medicine.
And sciences to bring their faith into that field and to do that from a missional perspective. And so it's exciting in that, you know, 135 plus years later, we still have that as our mission today. So today we sit on David Lipsky's farm in the beautiful area of Green Hills. In the center of Nashville. Um, it's a beautiful place where, um, our students thrive in a neighborhood setting.
Um, but it's also a place that has that faith-based mission with now well over 6,200 students that call Lipscomb home all the way through fun fact, [00:02:00] two year olds through university students because we have a unique environment that has, uh, the largest, um, independent Christian school in Nashville and, and a large university.
Spencer Patton: Lipscomb is really amazing to me because just in my lifetime, so I'm 40, I have seen Lipscomb come from a university that I feel like those outside of Tennessee would have very low probability of having heard of, to where now the university has national relevance. I was sitting in your office and you were leaving in a hurry to go catch a plane to go see the men's team in March Madness basketball, and that is amazing.
Like Lipscomb is a sports place now, and it also offers so many different curriculum opportunities. Mm-hmm. I just feel like are new for the university, especially in the [00:03:00] last 40 years. Yeah.
Candice McQueen: Uh, well one, that is a great example of just being on the national stage. I mean, we've been to the national tournament in basketball twice.
The NIT once, um. And that just tells you a little bit about this 20 year renovation, I think of Lipscomb and, and, uh, revelation that we are now a national player. 20 years ago we moved to division one athletics, and that's a really good marker of a time period when we shifted. To thinking about Nashville as our classroom and a place where we should have our students engaged, but then quite frankly, that we needed to be recruiting more nationally into our programs.
And so we now have much more of a national presence. But I do think that Division one athletic move really is a great marker of that happening about 20 years ago.
Carli Patton: Yeah. It's funny you say that, Spence, my first. Understanding of what Lipscomb was was basketball camp. I am no athlete. Let's like make it super clear that ball sports are not my [00:04:00] gifting, but my stepbrothers played basketball, so I was determined to make the girls team at my high school and we drove from Plymouth, Michigan in a van down to Lipscomb and stayed in the dorms for basketball camp.
And I remember being like. Where am, where am I? You know, coming down. And then now years later, I find myself driving by your campus literally almost every day on my way to pick up and drop kids in different places. And it's amazing to see the transformation, what you mean to the community. One interesting touch point, I don't, you may not know this, but in the mom circuit, Hmm.
Everyone fights for Lipscomb girls to be babysitters because your campus has this reputation of kind students. Mm-hmm. And is that something that gets back to your desk? Is that something you hear that we're all fighting over the women on your campus?
Candice McQueen: I do, because I did the same thing when I was, uh, you know, raising my children.
They're 19 and 23 now, but at the time I was [00:05:00] the same. The Lipscomb students are kind and they're servant hearted. Mm-hmm. Service is a significant part of our campus, and students are drawn there because of that service component of our mission. Um, and, and I don't mean that in a flippant way or in a way that just is.
You know, it's, it's in a mission statement. We really do believe that we draw students who care about others in a way that gives them purpose and meaning, and they want to come to a place that has really strong national academic presence. I mean, we have 22 national accreditations for our programs.
Mm-hmm. That's very significant for a school our size. We, we are. Excellent in programmatic academic elements of what we do, but we do that in a place where you're also going to get to grow in missions. We have, you know, 400 to 500 students do mission trips in the summer about that same number go during spring break.
They are mission. Oriented and service oriented. We have a service office now where students can get connected to all types of things across Middle [00:06:00] Tennessee, where they get to serve and they're asking us for that, that that's not something we have to say, would you please sign up to go tutor and do this?
They're actually saying That's what makes me whole, and that's how I get to practice my craft of whatever program I'm in by going out and serving. Um, a great example of that is our engineering program. Um, our engineering program now for almost a dozen years goes to Honduras and Guatemala and Ghana, and they take students and they actually practice their craft of building clean water systems, um, building homes and doing what they do great in the engineering program to serve.
And it's one of our more popular, uh, areas of campus through the EO center, and that gives every student. Who wants that experience in the engineering a free opportunity to go and serve?
Carli Patton: I have to ask, how are you getting these service oriented human beings? Like I'm trying to raise kids that are service oriented.
It is not easy, and I [00:07:00] will be the first one to tell you God love 'em. They can say the right stuff on paper, but when it comes to their dish night, they are not service oriented. At all. So how are you finding this authenticity really with a population of humans that are still figuring out who they are?
I'm sure just even though you're a faith-based university, there's a lot of them that are probably trying to figure out what do I believe is their first time out of home? Why do I believe it? So what is kind of your secret sauce? Attracting or bringing in these students that fit this culture that you've built?
Candice McQueen: Well, the first thing, let me just say you're doing the right things. Because what happens, we find in that 18 to about 24-year-old, their frontal lobes are still forming and they are still in this stage of life where they're becoming who they will become as an adult. So it's a very important time period.
That's why I always say to parents, being in a Christian environment, a faith-based environment that allows them to sort of. Ask those really tough, big, what I call God-sized questions [00:08:00] and be surrounded by other people who are asking it in the same way with faculty and staff who will help answer it in really strong ways.
That's encouraging. So they like to serve together. Usually it's not somebody going out and doing this by themselves. I mean, when you go on a mission trip and our athletic teams go on mission trips like the entire cross country team or the entire tennis team, it's about being together and doing something collectively.
And seeing the result of that and then getting to. Debrief that afterward and now live that story. You've all lived it together and now for years you get to talk about that experience and you wanna do it again because it's such a good experience. It's kind of like church camp that we all went to and you had a great experience at church camp, but this is church camp for real.
Mm-hmm. It's like I'm really going out and I'm serving and I'm being the adult with the strengths that I bring with real people. Mm-hmm. And they want to keep doing that because it's such an. An encouragement to them, particularly as they do it collaboratively.
Carli Patton: Hmm.
Spencer Patton: Dr. [00:09:00] McQueen, one individual that might hear about lips, Kim's faith-based component might offer a critique and say, well, I don't wanna send my kid to a Christian college because.
I don't want them to be in a bubble. Right. Many, maybe not all, but many students maybe came from a Christian high school or a Christian elementary school. So what do you say to parents that are wrestling to say, I could send my kid to. A university that has no faith mission at all, and that's going to be a certain type of exposure and challenge to their faith.
And there's a way to couch that as a very healthy development. And then there's another way to say, but if they go here, then. The character that I'm building during a really important still season is, is there, how do you kind of wrestle with parents or students that are trying to make that decision?
Candice McQueen: Well, I would start with the story. This is a story of a [00:10:00] student who just graduated. His name is Jackson Fox. He actually, uh, did a great internship on the hill. Uh, so he's in this, uh, political science, law, justice and society field. And I will never forget asking him, you look, you went to us. Smaller Christian school and then you made a decision to come to Lipscomb.
I'd love for you to talk to parents and to others about why you made that decision. And I loved his answer because it's spot on. He says, look, when I came to Lipscomb, I knew I was getting a Christian environment, but you were gonna expose me to the civil discourse that I need in the real world and the um, ideas that may be contrary to where I am.
You're going to. Force me to have conversations that really help me defend who I am and maybe deepen the spirituality I bring. It's not cookie cutter that I experienced in my K 12, maybe environment that I was in, in another state, which I felt like it was just, you know, here's the talking points. But you didn't really get to delve deeply into who am I?
What are my strengths? How did God make me? Mm-hmm. [00:11:00] What is my purpose? And then get that devil's advocate of, okay, if somebody pushed back on you on this. How would you defend that? How would you think about building relationships with people who don't think like you and really this idea of civil discourse and being in a free speech environment, which we all care about, but being able to still shell your faith.
How do you do that? I mean, that's who Lipscomb is. We're going to push you to become an adult who can do that really well.
Carli Patton: I also wanna ask, 'cause this is something. I grew up in a Christian school and a lot of kids went to faith-based schools and a lot didn't, and it, you have that balance back and forth.
It was hard to tell. There was a stigma back when I was looking at schools that maybe faith-based educational institutions weren't as rigorous, that you weren't gonna get the same job opportunities if you chose. A Wheaton or a Taylor or an Indiana Wesleyan or a Lipscomb that you might, if you go to a Belmont or a Vandy or [00:12:00] a, you name it.
And so could you speak to that a little bit? Because what I'm hearing you say is that there is a lot of rigor and application, but I don't know that the. Everyone listening actually believes that or understands that.
Candice McQueen: Yeah, I think that's a great question because it's a misunderstanding. I think particularly about Lipscomb.
I can't speak to every Christian school environment because I do think some of that exists. That's why you get a reputation that may be like, well, that, that's weaker. Uh, we have always held, we are going to have the most excellent academic program connected, integrated with. Powered by, animated by our Christian faith, which calls us to be excellent in every area.
Those are not mutually exclusive. Mm-hmm. That's actually what you're actually called to do as a Christian, is to be excellent, to be able to live in the world and to bring your faith into every profession with that high ideals that, that we should bring. And so we have made that. Part of our DNA, part of how we think about strategic planning.
Um, how do we [00:13:00] create a pathway that never waters anything down? Only inspires, uh, students to have a whole education. And a whole education cannot be disconnected from your faith. Um, that can be. I think misunderstood at times when you haven't had an education that brings that rigor. Mm-hmm. We believe at Lipscomb, we do that really well.
We, we use the term Christ animated. It's not Christ assumed, and it's not Christ added. When you come to our classes, it's Christ animated. We just don't assume that you know things and you're a Christian. We don't assume that we just need to add, you know, a prayer every now and then. We wanna say in this field.
In the sciences, in education, in business, this is what it actually looks like to live your faith and to use your God-given strengths to be exceptional. Mm-hmm. And these are the things you're going to need to know. You need to be an incredible worker with high character, and you need to have the skills and knowledge to do that.
And those things have to be in that, you know [00:14:00] what I'd call the Venn diagram?
Carli Patton: Mm-hmm.
Candice McQueen: That's the center and that creates the whole education.
Carli Patton: Man, I love that because. I feel like that's something we talk about all the time is seeking wisdom. As we mature, as we run our businesses and do this podcast, it's how do we apply and bring in what is true in anchoring to our souls, right?
In a way that is truthful and loving and authentic, not just platitudes. And I would argue that in the last decade that has been. The most challenging spiritual walk for me is to figure out, okay, I have this head knowledge. My heart wants to do it is right. But how on earth do you actually do that while you're raising kids, while you're building your business?
Mm-hmm. While you're trying to serve your community. It's not as easy as it sounds on paper. Mm-hmm.
Candice McQueen: Well, something we did at, at Lipscomb, um, in the fall of 22, as part of our strategic planning process, we started something called the Center for Vocational Discovery. It has potentially been one of the most [00:15:00] powerful, uh, new initiatives we've had that parents in particular appreciate.
Because while we are a Christian school that animates our academic program through Christ, and we have, you know, 18 hours of Bible that students are taking Old Testament, new Testament story of the church, we knew we needed something that would bridge those two things by helping students understand who they are.
They have big questions. What's my identity? Who am I in God's story? What are my strengths? What's my purpose? I have a major, but what does that mean for what I really wanna do in my life? So the Center for Vocational Discovery takes every new student transfer and freshmen and puts them to 10 weeks of answering those questions because our students are trying to figure those out on the internet.
They're asking those questions and they're getting answers from people that we may not want them to get answers from. Yeah. Or they may not be whole. It may not be a whole answer for them. And so we really try to delve into that for a 10 week period. They all do [00:16:00] strengths assessment and then we do mentoring with each of them about how, how do you now use your strengths for what you want to become?
And then we do 600 different workshops that they have the ability to attend. That allow real people like the two of you to come in and talk about those strengths and talk about how it connects to who you are today. And by the way, your struggles that you still have as a 40 or 50-year-old in really developing those, but how God has been faithful to you through that work journey, even though you've had valleys, uh, in it, that is so encouraging to students and they, they tell us it's one of the most important parts now of that freshman and sophomore year where they get to see how those things are connected.
Carli Patton: I mean, do you have like a lay person option? Can I go for 10 weeks? I
Candice McQueen: had a lady that re that retired just the other day and she said, I need to come to the Center for Vocational Discovery to find out what I'm
Carli Patton: gonna do next, you know, to, and the desire to learn more about Lipscomb. Can I just audit that?
Candice McQueen: Please, please do. We, we'd love to have you, we'd love to have you. [00:17:00]
Spencer Patton: Uh, Dr. McQueen, I feel like. Right now is one of the hardest possible moments to be the president of a university. Like when you think about the last 100 years of time, these last. Five, seven years have to be some of the hardest. And of course you find yourself in that role, you know?
Great for you. I drew the hard part. Uh, but that's a good thing. I know your personality enough to know that you're, uh, welcoming that challenge. I wanna start this piece off with just. Helping people understand what does a president of a university actually do, because I think you would have a really good laugh that if you had your average person on the street say, build.
The calendar that you think I spend my time on, I bet you'd get some crazy stuff, right? Like you'd have some people that think, oh, well, [00:18:00] she must be completely in charge of the curriculum, or, oh, she must be the disciplinarian for the place, or she is just a fundraiser. Um, and so I wonder if we could just start there because I feel like when people see you, they're like, oh, that's the president of Lipscomb University.
And there's a lot of prestige and awe that comes with that. But when it comes to what does actually her day encompass, I wanna start there and then go into a little bit more of, uh, some of the dynamics that surround presidents right now. So what is it that you do?
Candice McQueen: Well, I'll break it down as I did for my eighth grade son.
So when I started in the presidency, he was in eighth grade and I remember, um, he asked me, so what does a president do? So I had been the commissioner of education and the CEO of a nonprofit before that. And so he would always. He was very curious about what I did in those roles, and so I was trying to explain how it was the same or different, but I said, this is typically what you would see me spend most of my time on.
One, I am a [00:19:00] very student first, um, leader. I have been in all the education roles I've had. What does students need? I need to listen to students that they are, why we are here. That's actually the whole focus of the mission, and so I want to understand that, so I will be. Present with students. I'm going to be talking to students, I'm gonna be listening to students.
I'm gonna show up at things where students are. That's going to be a high priority. Second, I have to know the people who are working with me as my team to know what they need to be successful with the students. So you're gonna see me a lot with faculty, with staff, with my leadership team, really trying to determine strategy and resource needs and what can we do to be.
Excellent to push on, uh, what I would call that academic prowess that we, we care so much about and make sure our mission is never sacrificed. I'd say the third, uh, which you can appreciate, there's always a little bit of gatekeeping that happens with the president. It's what do you say yes to? What do you say no to?
How do you make sure [00:20:00] things really are intentional with your mission? I, I did a lot of that, particularly my first three years. I'm in my fifth year now was, okay if we say this is our mission. I need to be able to point pragmatically to what is showing, what that looks like on the ground. Mm-hmm. And so a lot of gatekeeping things that I had to rethink, my team had to rethink some things that we were doing to make sure that was very obvious, that our mission was intentional.
And I'd say the fourth is certainly what I would call selling. And sharing your story, which does include fundraising, but I always say you have to share before you sell.
Mm-hmm.
Candice McQueen: Right? You have to have these relationships. So a lot of it is engaging and telling people your story and why should they care about Lipscomb, and then certainly there is a, a donor component to that too.
Spencer Patton: Hmm. And so obviously with all of the crazy dynamics that surround universities. As an entrepreneur, it's one of my favorite environments to be [00:21:00] in because it's a moment where you really get to create differentiation, everyone. In Moments of Crisis has an opportunity to do one thing, say one thing, address the problem, run from the problem, do all of those different pieces, and so how when you think back on your time and just over the last.
Number of years that have had a lot of different issues that bubble up one Tuesday morning that you did not know was on its way. How do you think about yourself as a crisis manager and representing so many people at a university because that's so challenging that you may say something and of course.
You're representing a really wide body of people, so how, how does that land and settle? How do you feel that you steward that responsibility?
Candice McQueen: Well, it's always mission first. You know, if you can [00:22:00] continue to wake up every morning and say, I have no light between me and the mission. We're, we're one. We're thinking, you know, I'm thinking about the mission every day as part of who I am as well.
Mm-hmm. Then that solves a lot of that, so. I care deeply about our mission. That's why, you know, my work with Lipscomb is such a good match. It was a place I went as an undergraduate, and so I know the university well. I know the mission. I know what we are and who we continue to wanna be. And so in that, I would say that helps you navigate a lot if you're really clear and centered around what you stand for.
Yeah. Um, clearly there's always things, again, I use the term gatekeeping, that you have to really be thoughtful about, well, does that really say who we. Are, is that missional? Do we need to push on that differently? Do we need to think differently about that? You know, choice, and so you're constantly doing that, but it's always about mission.
Who do we say we are? Who are we trying to become and does this fit that or not? A good example is we did not have what I would [00:23:00] call a statement. On statements when I became president. And so there was this sense that happens in educational settings that you should probably make a statement on everything.
Everything that pops up. Well, the president should make a statement on that. And you know, my general rule on that, and I had this rule when I was commissioner, was you don't need to make a statement on everything, because that can be most of your time. Mm-hmm. Because you're spending so much time on trying to navigate.
What, what is it that I need to say as opposed to, let's focus on our mission, who we are, focus on our students, who are actually the people we're serving. Let's make sure they have what they need, and we don't have to make a statement on everything that's happening, but you're attentive to it. You know what's happening.
You're very culturally aware, but you don't have to say something publicly about everything. You're more ministering to students and helping people where they are. Hmm. That's helped a lot in navigating that.
Spencer Patton: That's a great answer. And really it helps [00:24:00] reveal the stakes for why you're in the seat that you are, that your experience and your background, your ability to manage those situations is incredibly complex and often comes at you when you least expect it.
And so I, I wonder for those that are in Tennessee. But don't know what the mission is for Lipscomb. Maybe let's kind of take the conversation there and say if someone hasn't had the opportunity to be on the campus. Or doesn't really know what Lipscomb is all about. What is the mission?
Candice McQueen: Mm-hmm. Well, simply stated, we're a Christ-centered university and we prepare learners through rigorous academics and transformative experiences.
For purposeful lives. So we are at the end of the day, really trying to connect the academics to transformative experiences, the student life experience, the missional experience, [00:25:00] the things they get to do in Middle Tennessee as their community and saying those things combine should help you find purpose.
And we do that through the Christ-centered lens. So it's a beautiful mission statement that has, we have eight core values that really speak to who we are. Everything from loving God and. Affecting every person and serving others to being a great collaborator and being a person who's trying to solve big problems and bringing those problems to the table for conversation and, and solutions.
So we, we do that in that environment. I would say lips come at its core, is a place where you're going to find. Family and community that is authentic. When I, um, get a chance to talk to parents and say, what is the word you would use to describe Lipscomb? Um, a lot of times that academic rigor and Christ-centered comes up.
But I would say more often than not, the word that I continue to hear is, you are authentic. You tell us who you are, you're intentional about it. And you [00:26:00] live that in every aspect of who you are. That makes me excited because that was exactly what I wanted the university to be about. We wanted to be able to say, there's no surprises here.
This is who we are. We're very clear and intentional about it. And when you get here, you're actually gonna experience that with people who are authentic. They're living authentic lives. They make mistakes. We all do, but there are people who are connected to God and they're trying to live their faith in a really strong academic.
Environment
Carli Patton: found that really inspiring and I'm. I'm gonna be thinking about the term gatekeeping a lot leading here because I think it's a life PRIs principle as much as it's a business principle. And to look at your resume is to be a little bit intimidated to sit down. Like you've done so many beautiful things and worked so hard over your career in many different ways, and you've talked about why you love this mission at Lipscomb so much.
But you could have done anything. Truly, like you're not gonna toot your own horn. You could have done anything to put [00:27:00] forward the mission of Christ to ac Equipt people to make change. So why higher education now? Why this institution? I know the mission matters, but for a woman with your. Background and intelligence.
What made this the moment for this to be the fit? Because I think as parents that will one day consider Lipscomb as our kids get to that age as community members that have discretional giving to do, or that's right, places to go and take audit classes for our own betterment, et cetera. I wanna know why you said Lipscomb, because it might be why I say Lipscomb.
Yeah.
Candice McQueen: Uh, I love that you asked the question. I mean, four, I. Uh, me, I have asked the question several times. What would Nashville or Middle Tennessee be like if there was, there was no Lipscomb. I mean, Lipscomb has. Really been what I would call a community-centered, Christ-centered place now for years. It, it is part of so many people's lives [00:28:00] in this area and has changed the city and their lives for good.
That I think my coach would be, why wouldn't you wanna be a part of it? It, it has done so many good things and it has authentically, I think done good things over years. Not, not for some ranking, although we are moving. Up in the rankings. I mean, that's the beautiful thing, but you're doing it for the right reasons.
This is why we exist and who we are, and we wanna make this community better. We wanna make the families that we serve better. We wanna give people opportunity where they can go anywhere they want. And they have choice. That was always, uh, what drew me to education, period, is education should provide you with choice.
Carli Patton: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Candice McQueen: Where you can choose where you wanna go, it should not shut down choices. It should open up choices. And what I love about Lipscomb is it's opening up choices not only for you in terms of jobs and, you know, your, your own personal progress and, and everything related to that, but it's opening up your heart.
And your [00:29:00] mind to what God has created you to be, and you connect those dots, and when you connect those dots, you're free. Right? Mm-hmm. This is like, I can do anything. I have confidence. I can go anywhere I wanna be, and I can be in the middle of, you know, the mission field. Mm-hmm. In Ghana, or I can be right here doing AI work in Nashville, and I can do either of those and I can be hung.
Confident that God's using my strengths for good and I can be a disciple in either of those locations. And I think that's what we're trying to say at Lipscomb. Why not? Because it's gonna open every door for you. I mean, I've told people this story. Lipscomb opened every door for me. I mean, I, I never had a question of yes.
I, I went to Vanderbilt for my master's degree. I went to the University of Texas for my PhD. There was never a question, Lipkin wasn't gonna open that door. And they're doing that today. Uh, you know, my husband played on the bison basketball team, uh, speaking at basketball camp. He ran those camps, man,
Carli Patton: that's like the center of this whole
Candice McQueen: conversation.
Lift film, basketball, you know. So [00:30:00] many doors were open to him because of Lipscomb. I mean, he, uh, was a successful accountant and Ernst and Young and passed the CPA exam, went on to law school, was a partner at Bas, Barry Sys, I mean, every door Lipscomb opened. All of those, they, it's not a place that closes.
It gives you so many opportunities to use your strengths and talents.
Carli Patton: Hmm.
Spencer Patton: I really appreciate your commitment. In commentary on Christian excellence because one qualifier that just drives me crazy when I hear is like, oh, that was a great movie for a Christian movie. Mm-hmm. Or that was a great song for a Christian artist, or, that was a great sports performance for a Christian team.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Like that qualifier that somehow, because it's Christian, it's not called to the same level of excellence as. Regular non-faith based society. I really appreciate you hitting that head on because I really passionately [00:31:00] believe that that is what we're called to as Christians is to excellence and not qualified excellence, but real excellence.
And I, I want to balance that with when you are thinking about where. Lipscomb is excellent. Mm-hmm. Um, just as an analogy, you know, Belmont spent a lot of time and if you ask people what does Belmont do? Mm-hmm. They would all say the same thing. Music. Yep. You know, and they have fought for decades to, I don't wanna say shed that reputation, but they've wanted to broaden themselves out to say, well, yes, we do that with excellence, but we do other things too.
So I'm not trying to. Put you in a role of saying, Hey, walk that same path, but is there something in particular that you feel like Lipscomb does particularly excellent? Or is it just more broad? And I can't get you to say this is one area
Candice McQueen: that Oh, I would, I can easily point to, I'm gonna point to three areas that I think are just [00:32:00] standout.
And the first would be our health sciences. Mm-hmm. Particularly students that are wanting to go to medical school, dental school. Uh, we have incredible in cap pass. One of the best in the state. It rivals any other school and we have had that reputation and that path for years. Mm-hmm. Um, have kept that.
And so if you are a student who wants to go to medical school and you want to be trained in an environment that's going to nurture you and be authentic, but push you and be rigorous and get you ready, Lipscomb is absolutely the place for you. And that has now bled over into graduate programs that we lead in in health sciences.
We have an amazingly competitive. PA program. We have a Perfusion Pro program, which is one of the few in the country, and so I think our health sciences at the graduate level have really. Been, I think inspired by what we've been able to do at the undergraduate level for medical school preparation.
That's a little unknown, but people who are looking for a great [00:33:00] school to be prepared for medical school know it. Yeah, right. This Lipscomb is always a a choice. It's something that they put on their radar. I say the other area, and I'm not saying this just because I was the dean over this area, but education at Lipscomb has.
Always been bar none. One of our best, uh, uh, performing colleges, I mean, we now are in our 13th, our 14th year are being the top university in the state for outcomes for our teacher preparation graduates. So I I I will just tell you, we, we prepare teachers, well, we do that at the undergraduate and graduate, well, we we're still one of the largest programs, um, at the graduate level in the state, and that's just a testament to the service orientation of who we are.
We're preparing them well. I'd say the third area, uh, that, um, I would say we, we are competing with Belmont, if not have surpassed them in some areas. And that is in our College of Entertainment in the Arts. Oh, about that. Uh, we have an animation program that's, uh, number one in Tennessee, number 22 in the [00:34:00] country.
We have Disney animators that are on our team. Uh, we are doing commercial music and worship, arts, music really well, competitive programs. Uh, we have amazing students that are coming from. All across the country. So that particular college is our fastest growing and competing incredibly well in those areas.
Spencer Patton: Look at that going into the teeth of the defense right there. I'm just going up. I did not expect
that
Candice McQueen: would be, Hey, we're in Music City and quite frankly, you, you need to do entertainment well and I think Lipscomb is bar none doing incredible work there.
Carli Patton: I wanna talk about a little known program. I don't think a lot of people know that you have.
Classes for incarcerated individuals, which I just think speaks to the heart of what you are doing at Lipscomb. So can you talk a little bit about that?
Candice McQueen: Yes. I'm gonna tell you about three incredible unique programs at Lipscomb. That's the first one, and, and one that has been the round the longest. And that's our life program.
Um, the Life Program is a program that started well over a dozen years ago now with a vision to go into prison, starting with the women's prison, [00:35:00] the Deborah K. Johnson. Rehabilitation center here in Nashville to go in and prepare them from an education perspective with a degree. So when they get out, they have a degree and they don't, you know, end up coming back into the environment they've been in, but they actually have this hope and future the.
A beautiful part of the life program is that it takes what we call our inside students, the students that are inside at Lipscomb, and they get to go actually take classes with the students that are there. And so they're sitting beside each other and they're taking classes together, whether that's English or uh, a Bible course or fine arts, or maybe they're taking a science course, they're doing it side by side, and they.
Learn compassion and they learn each other's stories. They learn about hope, um, that can occur when you see these different lives being lived out, but yet you're getting the same kind of education. Um, so I would just tell you that has been a remarkable journey. It continues to grow. Uh, we're now in the men's prison [00:36:00] as well.
Uh, we just had our first graduation there two years ago with, uh, graduates at the men's prison, our women's prison. We do a graduation about every three years. We just had one and, um, we had our first master's degree graduate at the last graduation. So it, it's a beautiful story. Maybe my favorite story is my second or third year as president.
There was a young lady that I got to, um, hand her diploma at the Deborah K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center graduation ceremony, and. She came to Lipscomb as now. She has left prison, she has gotten out. She is using that degree and she came and finished her master's degree at Lipscomb and I got to give her her second diploma.
Oh wow. On the stage in Allen Arena. So it's a story of the, the women that we now have as multiple years graduated that have now been released from prison. None of them have gone back to prison, which is exactly what you wanna see. And they have a future. They are using that degree for work and for, uh, for the future.
The second program [00:37:00] I have to point out is our ideal program. Uh, it's a program that I had the opportunity years ago to help start, um, but many other team members have now made it incredible. Um, is 11 years old. But it is a program that helps students with post-second. Have intellectual disabilities to go to a post-secondary program and get a two year certificate.
These are tends to be students that wouldn't get a typical four year degree, but they want the college experience. They want to be prepared for work, and so many of them do two years. Some of them will do three if they're accepted in our third year. And they go out and they have real jobs and internships.
They take classes, um, on campus. They have peer mentors. They live in our dorms. Um, but they have intellectual disabilities and they've been able to come to Lipscomb. And the last one is fairly new. It's called our BEST program. These are students who come in with a ti, they wanna do a typical four year degree.
They have the ability to do that. But they need additional support. Um, and that additional support could be peer mentors, it could be additional sort of a [00:38:00] pathway of tutoring that they wanna pre get approved for, that they're on. That has been amazing because we're able to bring in students who really have anxiety issues or they need more help or they need peers to be supportive of them.
And we arrange all of that on the front end so it's not happenstance when they get on the College ex experience.
Carli Patton: I love that you're touching on that because there is an epidemic. With college students that age range. Right now, there's been more mental health issues than ever in history, at least documented.
Mm-hmm. Right. What do you think we all say it's social media. Is it the food we are eating? Is it the dyes, is it the social media? You know, it's probably a lot of factors bunched up into one, but what are you seeing in your role about the mental health of students? And I think a lot of us as parents are.
Terrified as we have young teens like that, we're gonna really mess this up and our kids aren't gonna be okay. What are you saying that is very truthful, but also can maybe give hope?
Candice McQueen: Well, I, I'm going to repeat something [00:39:00] that I think was, um, very important that was in the anxious generation book that came out a couple of years ago, and that is this concept that we are.
Over parenting in the real world. Mm-hmm.
Carli Patton: Yep.
Candice McQueen: And we're under parenting online. That's absolutely true. Um, I saw that as commissioner when, uh, you know, we were dealing with a lot of mental health challenges there. Then we went into the pandemic, and then we've had even what I would consider more post pandemic.
Um, and I see that with college students, so across the board for years, um, this idea of we, we are solving kids' problems in the real world. Mm-hmm. We're stepping in sometimes too much as parents and not letting them sort of have the resilience that they need within reason on their own. We're not letting them have that failure moment and regroup.
We're coming in and trying to figure out how to. Solve it. Remember that's that helicopter parent or now we call 'em the bulldozer parent, uh, sort of mentality. And we're doing that in the real world. We're not letting them play down the neighborhood 'cause we're worried about things. [00:40:00] These are all real and parents should have some anxiety around that.
But we're over parenting in that then we're under parenting and online. So they're online, you have no idea what they're looking at 90% of the time, right. In the environments that they're looking online and they do not know what they're viewing. Mm-hmm. They can't process it appropriately, particularly at young ages or they're given things that are really complicated things.
They are, can. You know, get in touch with. And they don't know how to mentally think through that because they're not at an age even with sort of moral capacity to know how to think through that. So I think that's real. And we have seen that now for years be a problem, how we're solving it. And I would say solving in, in quotation marks, 'cause that's an evolution, is being knowledgeable that that is a problem.
First you have to admit. This is kind of what we're seeing our students come in with. Mm-hmm. Uh, really involve parents, but not as much on the online environment. Right. So the online [00:41:00] environment seems to be a missing link for them, but that's where there's a lot of social anxiety even around that. Mm-hmm.
Um, and we do that through a lot of counseling opportunities. We have a care team process that Lipscomb that really helps our students get connected. Um, and a lot of, um. Engagement where faculty and staff are flagging things that, uh, we see early on with students that we need to, to think through. And it's working because our retention is as high as it's ever been because those things are being considered really early on.
Mm-hmm.
Spencer Patton: Dr. McQueen, one of Carly and i's very favorite questions to get to ask of someone in your role that is responsible for casting a vision and doing all sorts of things where you actually have the power to be able to do things is, uh, it's kind of a magic wand question to say if you had any capacity.
Mm-hmm. Space wasn't an issue, funds weren't an issue, but Lipson was gonna offer something new. Maybe it's a new college, a new [00:42:00] curriculum, some new offering, and we kind of suspend disbelief a little bit. Carly and I had been working on an angle of trying to get culinary arts Yes. And hospitality management as the answer.
So I'm not saying that's the right answer for you to give, but I am wondering what if you could just. Bring something new to Nashville that you feel like some of the other universities don't do, what would you do?
Candice McQueen: Well, it's interesting you say that. I mean, I, I actually think one of the components that is missing in the state, and it's missing a lot of places, but it's missing in Tennessee, is what I would call a more career and technical.
Oriented college that has a Christian emphasis mm-hmm. Huh. Um, that has that faith-based component as part of their mission, but it's preparing people in the fields you're talking about. Mm-hmm. Which the culinary pieces would fit into that. The paralegal, the plumber. Right. The, these, uh, pieces that are much more career and technical oriented.
So I think that's a missing link and that's a, it's an interesting [00:43:00] conversation that I think we should have as a state. What would that look like? Mm-hmm. And how could we support that here?
Carli Patton: Or is there a way for them to have. Technical brought into a four year experience so they leave.
Candice McQueen: Absolutely.
Carli Patton: So this always comes from our heart.
We're biased. We have a daughter that wants to be a pastry chef and she's taken over 200 hours of training outside of her schoolwork and she can do about anything. But we are so career and college minded. We're always visiting campuses and looking around when we travel for work. And darn if I can't find.
For her, a faith-based mm-hmm. Institution where she could get that, but she could also get right some basic business classes and get a more well-rounded opportunity. Um, somebody like put in comments or tell me if it exists and I'm missing it. But every time we have the opportunity to talk to someone in education in Tennessee, we hear the capital mm-hmm.
Of entertainment right now. Mm-hmm. We're country music. We're having all these events downtown. I mean, Nashville is booming and I think it's a miss.
Candice McQueen: Yeah. Well, I'm with you on that. And I think this element of creating some [00:44:00] type of a joint program, even with a career and technical institution and a faith-based school that could bridge that divide, would be a place to start.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Um, so I think there's a, and by the way, I'm so glad she wants to be a pastry chef. Growing up, I wanted to be a chef. On Channel eight, you know, which was the public television. And actually then I wanted to be on Food Network. So I totally appreciate that. So if she has television aspirations after she becomes a pastry chef, let her talk to me.
I will. And maybe we can.
Carli Patton: I promise. I'll Oh, at least we'll bring you a box of cookies.
Candice McQueen: I love it. Next time we see you, love.
Carli Patton: I love it.
Spencer Patton: Dr. McQueen, one of the things that we like to have people on is to help clarify misunderstandings, confusions, and even as a born and raised Tennesseean Middleton. CI don't have a perfect understanding of the relationship between Lipscomb Elementary, Lipscomb Academy, the university.
There's a lot of the same names, and I don't know who is responsible for what and, and so I know that amongst some of those [00:45:00] there's connection, but can you help me understand? What is happening there, and then just why there's a unique part of a university that has more than a university to it.
Candice McQueen: Great.
Well, so Lipscomb Elementary is part of Williamson County Schools.
Spencer Patton: Okay.
Candice McQueen: A beautiful school, a great place. I visited there several times in the past. It is not connected to Lipscomb Academy. Um, and not even this. Lipscomb. So it has a, a, it's public school in Williamson County. Great school. Lipscomb Academy is obviously connected with, uh, in terms of the overall governance with Lipscomb University.
So we we're very unique. We're one of the few places in the country that have one board. That is, uh, a governance structure over a K 12 school that now actually has two, three, and four year olds, plus a university. So it creates this really interesting dynamic, uh, for a president where you can see the whole lifespan of someone.
Mm-hmm. I, I tell, uh, my 2-year-old parents, you could start here and you could get your PhD here, I mean. Sort [00:46:00] of the beauty of the ecosystem, um, at Lipscomb, which allows you to, I think, see lots of different angles of education and maybe be a little ahead of the curve in how you think about innovation, because you're seeing that lifecycle together.
But Lipscomb Academy used to be called Lipscomb. I should say it this way, David Lipscomb Campus school. So it was considered more of a campus school professional development school that was associated with the university, but it became its own highly rigorous sort of academic program, um, under a better title, which really does describe that better as.
Lipscomb Academy. So while it operates under one board, it's really very separate. Own head of school three, um, you know, principals at the different levels, and it functions as a highly rigorous academic program. Mm-hmm.
Spencer Patton: If you have somebody that goes from two years old to PhD, I feel like there's like a very special plaque or something that they get by the end of that.
Don't
Candice McQueen: you think they become president at [00:47:00] that point? I, that's right. I mean, possible it's possible.
Carli Patton: That's
Candice McQueen: awesome.
Spencer Patton: Uh, well, Dr. McQueen, the way that we land each podcast episode is, uh, I have three short fill in the blank sentences that, uh, will invite you to finish with a word or a short phrase that you think finishes the thought.
So if you'll just repeat the prompt that I give to you back and then fill it in with whatever you think makes sense. Okay.
Candice McQueen: Okay.
Spencer Patton: Perfect. Alright, here we go. Uh, number one, faith contributes to leadership. By shaping blank
Candice McQueen: Faith contributes to leadership by shaping morals and character and principles. Um, I, I feel like faith is the foundation of leadership, and it does it through those principles that you learn as a faith-filled person.
Spencer Patton: Yeah. Number two, higher education [00:48:00] best serves Tennessee. When it blank,
Candice McQueen: higher education best serves Tennessee when it is connected to workforce and community needs. Mm-hmm.
Spencer Patton: Yeah, I think that's so true. Mm-hmm. You have people coming out of higher education with no practical application. Right. Or hope of integrating into the workforce, and that's a tough.
Outcome on the other side of it.
Candice McQueen: And unfortunately, I mean, I, I think the higher education field, um, as a sort of industry is being attacked because of that. Yeah. That's why I think confidence in higher education is lower than it's ever been because you don't see that connectivity to what is the community you're serving actually need, and do you know it, and are you circling back and making sure that you're serving those students well.
Spencer Patton: Mm-hmm. And number three, Tennessee's growth will be sustainable. Only if [00:49:00] we blank.
Candice McQueen: Tennessee's growth will only be sustainable if we don't lose the foundations that got us here and continue to innovate on what will get us there.
Spencer Patton: Hmm. Dr. McQueen, it's a real privilege to have you on the show, seeing your leadership and the command that you have over. So many different important parts of things that touch people's lives, that touch the community, that touch way more than the state of Tennessee.
It is amazing to see that Lipscomb has created a brand and a reputation, partly due to the failures of other locations and places, but more so. From differentiating itself to say, here's why you choose [00:50:00] this, regardless of anything else that you're looking at. The value that Lipscomb is offering right here in our backyard under your leadership has been so fun to watch and evolve and grow and just know from Carly and I's perspective, we see the value in the community and we're really hopeful.
Uh, that as you dream of new things and cast new visions, uh, for Lipscomb, uh, that it's something that, uh, we can get behind and push, uh, and make sure that, uh, everybody knows that we're really excited for what you're doing there. So thank you. Thank you for spending this time with us today.
Candice McQueen: Thank you.
Thanks to both of you. Thanks,
Spencer Patton: Dr. Candace McQueen. President. 18th of Lipscomb University. Amazing podcast. Hmm. Her presence and leadership as [00:51:00] often happens when we bring someone in here, is immediately detectable. And for her to be in that spot as a female president of a university at a time where it has never been. More difficult to be a president of any university.
The success that she's had in the face of it all, all the growing numbers, the expanding metrics, the extension that she's received, like it was really great to get to spend some time with her and just pick her brain about the vision that she has for Lipscomb.
Carli Patton: The word I'll take from this is gatekeeping, and I think.
It is knowing that every no that you give is a yes to something else. And every yes you give is an automatic no to everything else. She seems so dialed in and I think there is this amorphous feeling as a woman that you feel like sometimes your boundaries are [00:52:00] porous and, oh, to be compassionate, I do need to say yes to this, and oh, to be a good friend, I need to do this.
Or a parent or partner or whatever. And I just really appreciated her strength to stand there and be like, these are the priorities every day I have to gate keep, to keep those priorities, the priorities. Mm-hmm. And I think that is true in business, in life, in higher ed, wherever you are, that was the power and integrity.
I saw her exhibit that really inspired me.
Spencer Patton: Mm-hmm. I'm really hopeful as Lipscomb continues to carve out for itself. What it is and who it serves in the community. Mm-hmm. That it continues to look for those market opportunities. And even though universities are not businesses per se, they have to have a lot of the same acumen of examining where are we?[00:53:00]
We're in middle Tennessee. What are the needs of the surrounding community and who else is filling them or not? And I just hope that that line of inquiry is continued at Lipscomb because there are some really fantastic market opportunities available. And we covered one of them, which is a culinary school with hospitality management.
You can't get that
Carli Patton: anywhere.
Spencer Patton: Anywhere in the state. You gotta go to Auburn, you gotta go to Vegas. Places that certainly are not overtly faith-based.
Carli Patton: Mm-hmm.
Spencer Patton: But even if you can get in them, which in general you can't because there's so few of them, they're not here. Yeah. And I feel like that they, Tennessee has the opportunity to do something.
Special
Carli Patton: there. We talk about it all the time. It's the dignity of the worker and understanding that there are [00:54:00] certifications and opportunities for people that want trade skills, but there could also be an opportunity for those students to also wanna marry that into a four year degree and get business skills and economic psychology, different things that they can't get with when they're just getting their certification.
Like there should be the opportunity for these people to have. Yes. And, and she, Dr. McQueen did a great job of saying education should open doors. It shouldn't be saying no. It should be saying yes and it should be opening up opportunity. And I just think that there is a demo of student that wants to do actual skill work that could benefit from some of the training that you get from liberal arts, liberal arts education, um, that doesn't exist.
And I will keep saying it, and I will champion it and I'll get behind and push it. And you know what? And if it pushes forward. Christ's kingdom and his heart for humanity. I am double [00:55:00] in.
